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Fatal Fire in Greensboro NC Highlights Low-Income Housing Issue

A deadly fire in a Greensboro
apartment building
left residents stricken with grief, confusion and asking questions about how to
prevent a similar tragedy in the future. The fire, which killed 5 children in a
building housing many non-English speaking refugees, led residents to demand a
city-performed inspection. The results were shocking: Inspectors reported more
than 200 safety violations.

Now the
city of Greensboro and some of its most impoverished residents must work to
find ways to solve a challenging problem with low-income housing, where safety
standards are often overlooked, and complaints often go unaddressed until
tragedy strikes. These issues are faced around the nation, and all too often, as with the December 2017 Ghost
Ship Warehouse fire in Oakland,
the results are catastrophic.

It was in
the early morning hours—just 3:54 a.m.—of May 12, 2018, that the fire broke out
in the apartment complex at 3100 Summit Avenue. Mugabo Emmanuel, a refugee from
the Democratic Republic of Congo, was inside his family's apartment with his
five children when, according to Greensboro fire officials, a fire originated
at the kitchen stove and quickly began to spread through the apartment. Within
minutes the entire apartment was ablaze, and thick smoke spread through the
air.

Emmanuel
tried to help each of his children escape from the burning apartment. Less than
five minutes after receiving the call, firefighters arrived on scene to assist.
Sadly, it was too late. Two of the children were pronounced dead at the scene,
and Emmanuel and his other three children were transferred to local hospitals
for treatment. Only Emmanuel survived, with the remaining three children dying
at Brenner Children's Hospital on Mother's Day, one day after the fire.

The
Greensboro Fire Department performed an investigation into the fire and
determined that food had been left on the stove, causing the fire. Assistant
Fire Chief Dwayne Church told reporters that they had interviewed Emmanuel and
his wife and that was how they came to the conclusions.

Friends of
the Emmanuel family, however, insist that Mugabo had problems with the stove
and had even told the building managers that small fires had been starting
around the stove. Say Flomo, who says he is close with the family, told Spectrum
News that the Emmanuel family would turn off a burner, but that it wouldn't
turn off for another two to three hours. Flomo says he called the landlord
at least two times to get the problem addressed, but that nobody ever came to look
at the stove.

A final
report on the Greensboro apartment fire is expected by the end of June.

City
Inspection Turns Up Hundreds of Violations at 3100 Summit Ave Apartments

A
malfunctioning stove would fit with residents' descriptions of life at 3100
Summit Avenue. Residents, many of whom do not speak English and have to work
with fellow English-speaking residents or interpreters to raise concerns, talk
of broken appliances, rodents, and a lack of electricity and water.

The fatal
fire served as an impetus for action, with residents signing a petition that
ultimately required the city to perform a full inspection of the apartment
building. That inspection uncovered more than 200 violations.

Those
violations included water leaks, roof leaks, exposed wiring, broken windows,
broken appliances, and improperly labeled panels and fuses. These examples,
however, are what city officials consider minor violations. The major
ones—related to non-running water, a lack of working smoke detectors, and
sewage leaking—got some of the apartments condemned, but the building owners
fixed those violations after the inspection.

Elizabeth
Benton is the Greensboro code compliance division manager and appeared
relatively unfazed about the multitude of violations discovered during the
inspection. Benton cited her 20-year history in inspections and said that she'd
seen worse and seen better.

The realty
company also said they fully renovated the building 18 months prior—though they
did not mention that this was to prevent it from being shut down by the
city—and that officials inspected each unit at the time.

Family
and Friends Mourn Lives Cut Short in Greensboro, NC Apartment Fire

On May 26,
2018, friends and family of the five young children killed in the Greensboro
fire gathered to say their final goodbyes.

More than
400 people joined together at Mount Zion Baptist Church of Greensboro to honor
the short lives of the children whose lives were cut so short.

I just spoke with the uncle of the 5 children who died from a house fire in Greensboro. He tells me the family is praying and relying on God to guide them through this. He shared this picture of some of the kids who passed away @WFMY Photo courtesy: Ananiya Bizimana pic.twitter.com/ozB0FCR7NH

Roy Hope was a Girl Scout, as was her sister, seven-year-old
Lisa Josiane. Their little brother, five-year-old Christopher Danny, had dreams
of being a truck driver when he got older, and another of their little
brothers, three-year-old Joshua John, loved to spend time with the two girls
whenever he could. The youngest of the siblings, one-year-old Trump Emmanuel Kamali,
was born in the U.S. only months after the family made the move.

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